Open for Entries June 1, 2017 – December 1, 2017

The St. Louis River Alliance (SLRA) is sponsoring a photo contest to celebrate the seasons and beauty of the largest U.S. river that flows into Lake Superior.

We are looking for striking digital images that highlight the diverse flora, wildlife, and recreational activities that connect people to their natural habitat. SLRA will feature many of the photographs submitted to this contest in its efforts to help protect the river’s amazing diversity of wildlife, people, plants and habitats.

Three Categories

The public will vote for the “People’s Choice Photo” winner, and a panel of judges will select the top three photos in each of the three categories:

IMPORTANT DATES*

Any time after FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017 – Participants may be asked to supplement their submission (such as a paragraph about their photo, the highest resolution version of their photo, or a watermark-free version of their photo).

MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2017 – Voting opens for “Public Choice” photos.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2017 – Voting closes for “Public Choice” photos.

THURSDAY DECEMBER 28, 2017 – Winners will be announced on at the St. Louis River Open House.

**The St. Louis River Alliance reserves the right to adjust any deadline(s) as the result of causes beyond its immediate control.

All photos will be of the St. Louis River and the Duluth/Superior Harbor. Portraits of wildlife in their natural habitat, animal behavior, the relationship between people and nature, plant life, weather, and seasons, recreation, and harbor activities. We are especially interested in images that showcase the wide range of habitats and seasons of the St. Louis River.

ELIGIBLE PHOTOS:
If you choose to include people in your submission, you are responsible for obtaining the necessary releases from the individuals depicted, (form provided) and must be able to provide copies of those releases to The St. Louis River Alliance upon request. Entrants must not submit images that involve human nudity, the willful harassment of wildlife, damage to the environment by the photographer, put any individual or animal in danger, or infringe on the rights of any other photographer or person.

All photographs should accurately reflect the subject matter and the scene as it appeared. Photos that have been digitally altered beyond standard optimization (removal of dust, cropping, reasonable adjustments to exposure, color and contrast, etc.) will be disqualified. Multiple exposures that have been combined to produce a single “High Dynamic Range” image are acceptable. Images that do not meet these requirements may or may not be judged at the judging panel’s sole discretion.

Photo captions must accompany all submissions, and should include the subject of the image, the location and date the image was taken, and the name of the photographer(s). Please clearly label animals as wild in digital caption information to assist judges in determining eligibility.

INELIGIBLE PHOTOS:
Images that involve human nudity, the willful harassment of wildlife, damage to the environment by the photographer, put any individual or animal in danger, or infringe on the rights of any other photographer or person will not be accepted.

Photos that have been digitally altered beyond the standard optimization listed above will be disqualified. The panel of judges will have the sole discretion on whether images meet these requirements.

HOW TO ENTER:
All images must be submitted through the WooBox website, http://woobox.com/ooio47. Complete all required fields, including name, email and other information about your photo submission. Digital images that are sent via mail or email will not be accepted.

Online entries can be uploaded starting 9:00 AM Central Standard Time on THURSDAY JUNE 1, 2017. Deadline for submitting entries is 11:59 a.m. Central Standard Time on FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017. Winners will be announced on THURSDAY DECEMBER 28, 2017 at the St. Louis River Alliance Open House. The St. Louis River Alliance reserves the right to adjust any deadline(s), if necessary.

ELIGIBILITY:
The contest is open to all photographers, except employees of the sponsor and their immediate families, and all persons directly involved with the contest and the final judging. To ensure eligibility for the contest all entries must have a resolution of 6 million pixels or greater (6 megapixels). Entries may originate in any format as long as they are submitted electronically via the contest rules.
Submissions may be watermarked if desired, but the watermark should be inconspicuous enough to not interfere with the judging of the photo. A watermarked photo might not be honored by the competition (at the judge’s sole discretion) if the photographer is unable or unavailable to provide a pristine, watermark-free version of the image when asked.

JUDGING:
Images will be judged on originality, technical excellence, composition, overall impact and artistic merit. The judges are a panel of professional photographers, local artists and board members.

There will be public voting for the top 30 “Public Choice” A panel of judges will select the top three photos in each category. The judges reserve the right to select winners from all entries of the contest. The St. Louis River Alliance shall determine winner eligibility in its sole and absolute discretion. All decisions made by the judges are final.

DEADLINES:
● THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 2017 @ 9:00 AM CST – Online submissions begin
● FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017 @ 11:59 AM CST – Deadline for submitting entries Entrants
● Any time after FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017 – Participants may be asked to supplement their submission (such as a paragraph about their photo, the highest resolution version of their photo, or a watermark-free version of their photo).
● MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2017 – Voting opens for “Public Choice” photos.
● FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2017 – Voting closes for “Public Choice” photos.
● THURSDAY DECEMBER 28, 2017 – Winners will be announced at the St. Louis River Alliance Open House.

The St. Louis River Alliance reserves the right to adjust any deadline(s) as the result of causes beyond its immediate control.

YOUR RIGHTS:
Your photographs help The St. Louis River Alliance protect the river’s amazing diversity of wildlife, people, plants and habitats. Thank you for helping to further our mission through your photography.

You will retain all rights to any photograph you submit including ownership if applicable. You grant The St. Louis River Alliance rights (as described below) to your photo when submitted in the contest.

By submitting a photo in this contest you grant The St. Louis River Alliance and the Wisconsin DNR:
● A royalty-free, nonexclusive right, in perpetuity, to use all submissions for publications to further our missions. All photos will be credited to photographer.
● Use the photograph on the internet in support of our mission.
● Use the photograph in The St. Louis River Alliance communications and publications.
● Provide your photograph to other individuals and organizations for non-commercial use, SLRA-related use in news stories, newsletters, reports, slide shows, displays, web pages, and the like.
● Use, in connection with the Photo Contest, your name, city, state and country of residence in promotions and other publications.
● Keep the files provided, and to archive the images on CD or in other electronic forms, so that your photos can be used to support our mission and be properly credited.

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